A Lifestyle and Adventure Blog

Tag: That 70’s Show

A pop culture junkie through and through, I can’t help but have some strong opinions about the television shows I have watched over the years. From universally hated finales to unhealthy relationship pairings, even our favorite TV shows will disappoint us from time to time.

This week, we’ll talk about the ones that got away – the TV couples who should have been together when the series ended. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section below!

The Weekend Five: TV Couples Who Should Have Ended Up Together

1. Dan and Blair (Gossip Girl)
Throughout Gossip Girl, both Dan and Blair experience their share of relationships. The Upper East Side’s Queen B begins the series in a long-term relationship with golden boy Nate Archibald, falls into an emotional on/off affair with bad boy Chuck Bass over several seasons, and even marries the Prince of Monaco. Dan, a writer and outsider from Brooklyn, falls for socialite Serena van der Woodsen (Blair’s sometimes-best friend), briefly dates Hilary Duff and begins to raise a child he soon learns is not his. Let’s face it: these characters have a lot going on.

At the start of the series, Dan and Blair come from very different worlds and have nothing but disdain for one another, but as the seasons wear on, we learn that the two actually have a lot of common interests and chemistry of their own. They form a very close friendship that eventually evolves into a brief relationship, but the writers quickly force a breakup because the two characters were never supposed to be endgame material. Blair ends up with the emotionally and physically abusive Chuck (who once traded her for a hotel), while Dan ends up with the aimless Serena. Moral of the show? Shared interests and the ability to have real conversations with another person are nothing compared to rocky relationships with emotionally unavailable people! (“Dair” was pretty great while it lasted, though, and it definitely made the show a lot more interesting.)

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2. Shawn and Angela (Boy Meets World)
Many of us grew up watching Boy Meets World and wanting the idyllic Cory/Topanga relationship, but to me, the more interesting couple was always Shawn and Angela. Shawn, Cory’s best friend, had a rough family life and difficulty staying in a relationship longer than two weeks. Angela was the first girl he really committed to, dating in high school and college, and his character grew a lot during that relationship. They part ways when she leaves for Europe to be closer to her father (which is a valid reason to leave), but the couple never really gets closure.

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3. Rory and Jess (Gilmore Girls)First, let me just say that I hated Rory’s Yale boyfriend, Logan. To me, he never really came off as a fantastic boyfriend, and I was happy to see that she breaks things off at the end of the series and leaves for her dream job (a positive portrayal of a young woman who temporarily chooses career over relationship). However, if Rory was meant to be with anyone, it was always Jess, Luke’s nephew. Although a troublemaker who doesn’t always know how to be the best boyfriend, Jess grows in his relationship with Rory and (much like Dan and Blair of Gossip Girl) the two have some very real shared interests. Both experience their highs and lows over the next few seasons, but Jess ultimately grows up, achieves some of his goals and becomes a better version of himself. In some ways, he and Rory are at a much more similar point in their lives by the end of the series. I’d like to think that after Rory fulfills her dream to work with Christiane Amanpour and Jess publishes his next novel, the two settle down and live a happy, drama-free life together.

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4. Jackie and Hyde (That 70’s Show)I know that everyone is looking back nostalgically at Jackie (Mila Kunis) and Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) because of the actors’ real life engagement/pregnancy, but I always preferred the pairing of Jackie and Hyde. Although an unlikely pair, the two characters work well together on the show and develop considerably throughout the relationship. Things go downhill when Jackie demands an engagement and Hyde marries a stripper, but with the way the show was written, it all felt like a wild misunderstanding that would eventually be resolved. However, the writers never seemed to explore the relationship again, instead bringing Jackie and Fez together in a final season that felt a lot more like fanfiction than the actual show.

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5. Ted and Tracy (How I Met Your Mother)Yes, readers, I am still mourning this devastating loss! The show How I Met Your Mother, in which Future Ted tells his teenage kids about how he met their mom, opens with the story of how Ted met Robin, a woman he immediately thought was the love of his life. We quickly learn that she is not their mother. Ted and Robin date for a few seasons, but have some fundamental differences that would affect marriage and children in the future, so they eventually split. Over time, we realize that Robin truly is not The One for Ted, and he finally lets her go right before she marries his close friend, Barney. At the wedding, Ted meets the bass player, Tracy, and immediately falls for her. During their conversations, we quickly see how perfect they are for one another – their pronunciations of “Renaissance,” their dorky shared interests, the many ways they unknowingly crossed paths over the years.

The writers do a great job of convincing us that Tracy is Ted’s soul mate, the one who made nine seasons of heartbreak all worth it. Then, after the characters meet, Future Ted reveals that Tracy died and that he’s in love with (now divorced) Robin again. The entire episode felt like a slap in the face and like complete regression of his character (and possibly an April Fool’s joke), but the writers stuck to the ending they had planned years earlier, ultimately disappointing their fans. After all Ted has been through, he deserves his happy ending with Tracy!

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What are some TV couples you think should have ended up together? Do you agree/disagree with any of the above?

Every week, as I turn on the latest episode of The Hard Times of RJ Berger, I am reminded of how formulaic and unrealistic society’s portrayal of high school life really is. My school never had quite the same divisions when it came to cliques (they did exist, but there were a lot of gray areas and it was possible to be a part of more than one), and I can’t think of a particular It Girl who “ruled the school” a la Regina George of Mean Girls. In other words, while many of pop culture’s portrayals of high school have some grain of truth, few really capture the essence of my high school experience (or that of anyone else I know).

Having said that, although I enjoyed high school to an extent, I wouldn’t mind borrowing some elements from the movies and television shows that seem to capture it all. And so this Friday, I bring you five fictional high school events I wish I could relive, had my life been a movie, TV show, or book.

The Friday Five: High School Experiences I Wish I Had

1. Attending a school where it’s okay to break into song no matter what.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a jock or a nerd, because on Glee, everyone gets their chance to shine. In a school with boundless musical talent, you can sing about anything (really!) — whether it’s the student who has a crush on her teacher, the baby you’re giving up for adoption, or the boy you liked that you thought had feelings for your friend but was actually gay. While my abilities in song and dance are extremely limited, I would have loved being a part of the Cheerios cheerleading squad with Sue Sylvester as my coach. Yes, she can be sadistic, but as a former cheerleader myself, I know it would have been amazing to perform with a team of such talent (and with pyrotechnics included… gasp!). I could do without the whole “slushie in the face” routine though. : )

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2. An 80’s/90’s movie prom night.

Much to my friends’ dismay, I hate to dance. For all of my high school dances, I always felt like I wasted a perfectly good dress on a night of watching sweaty people practically have sex on the dance floor — for me, the night might as well have taken a break after my pictures were taken and then continued a few hours later at the after party. However, had my homecomings and prom resembled more of an 80’s or 90’s event (such as Pretty in Pink or She’s All That), I probably would have enjoyed them a lot more. A fun, choreographed dance to Fatboy Slim’s The Rockafeller Skank or a slow dance to The Spandau Ballet’s song True would have made the night that much better… instead of listening some hip-hop artist I couldn’t even understand.

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3. Having full access to my friend’s basement hangout.

Let me just preface this by saying that basements are a rare commodity in Florida… and basically impossible to have if you live as far south as I did. Therefore, finding yourself in a basement is a very cool thing. Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t be doing quite the same things that the characters from That 70’s Show did, but if I had an Eric Forman in my life whose basement was always up for grabs, there’s no telling what I would do. It doesn’t matter if Eric is out of the house or even on the same continent; his friends still have a place to call home — no knocking or calling ahead of time required! The basement is their safe haven for dealing with the pressures of life and growing up. While my friends and I did have a few places we frequented, there was never one that meant all that much to me. Many of the locations we went to were easily replaceable, and none of them ever felt to me like a home away from home.

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4. Taking bets and then falling in love because of them.

Growing up in the 90’s, I was surrounded by images of boys who accepted money to date dorky and socially awkward but still obviously pretty girls, but ultimately ended up dropping the bet/deal and falling in love with them. Take 10 Things I Hate About You as a prime example. Patrick Verona (played by a young Heath Ledger, who really stole the show – rest in peace) is paid by Joey Donner (the narcissistic popular guy… yay stereotypes!) to date Kat Stratford so that Joey can have a chance with Kat’s sister and eventually sleep with her. Patrick gets Kat all the way to the prom but falls in love with her along the way, to the point where he even serenades her with Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You and pays the band to perform at her soccer practice. Of course these things never happen in real life, but 90’s movies make the argument that if you start to date someone for the wrong reasons (such as a bet or the fact that you’re being paid) then you’re destined to fall for them. Case closed.

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5. Learning magic and defeating the most evil wizard of all time.

I still maintain that my Hogwarts letter got lost in the mail almost nine years ago… and while the seven years spent in wizarding school overlap middle and high school, I would be willing to erase my middle school years in favor of becoming the next Hermione Granger, minus all the hormones (besides, middle school really sucked). Although I doubt I’m brave enough for Gryffindor, I think I’d find a happy place for myself in Ravenclaw, hopefully not among know-it-alls but just among people who like to question and learn new things. I’m convinced that I would love my Charms and Transfiguration classes, hate Potions due to my aversion to chemistry, and struggle a little with Defense Against the Dark Arts because I’m a bit of a passive person but nevertheless would learn a lot from the class and love being there. I might not have been on the frontlines fighting against Voldemort, but I would still find my place in the cause and work toward the equality of all magical creatures!